This property, located at the corner of Wisconsin and Macomb, was built in 1901 and is a contributing resource in the Cleveland Park Historic District. The house currently faces Wisconsin Avenue. The concept presented includes moving the house to the rear of its lot and rotating it so that it faces Macomb Street. An addition of a seven story apartment building facing Wisconsin Avenue would be constructed on the lot. The proposal includes removing the now-enclosed rear porches and the south side portion of the front porch. The original house would contain two units and the “addition” would contain 13 units.

Note: This concept review by the ARC involves the moving and rotating of the original house and the proposed massing of the addition. The ARC understands that the design of the addition will be further refined and that the ARC will review the design of the addition including materials at a future meeting.

The ARC expressed concern about the shading of Macomb Street and requests sun studies based on the refined plans.

The ARC has the following recommendations:

The ARC does not object to moving and rotating the house as proposed. At its current location, due to subsequent construction, particularly the apartment building to the south, the house is somewhat orphaned and out of context.

The front porch should be maintained in its entirety. The side/south portion of the porch should not be removed and the rhythm of the four bays at the main level should be retained. (The porch thus preserved could serve as the hyphen to the addition facing Macomb Street.)

The appearance of piers and lattice at the foundation should be retained.

The addition, as it faces Macomb Street, should be in line with the mass of the original house or even behind it in order to remain subservient to the original house.

3426 Macomb was built in 1895 (or 1897 per permit data) and is a contributing resource in the historic district. The proposal includes a rear addition and an infill addition on the west side of the house. The addition would include approximately 600 square feet of space and the materials would replicate those of the existing house. Two options were presented, “A” and “B”, with option “B” moving the rear addition two feet to the west in consideration of side yard setback requirements. The ARC preferred option “B” and the following comments are based on that option.

The ARC recommends that the west side of the house, both first and second floors, be maintained in order to preserve the defining characteristics on that side of the house including the cupola and the corner on the side porch. These features of the house should not be subsumed by the proposed addition. A suggested alternative is to design a larger addition in the rear which might extend farther toward the west and/or the south property line.